Furnace



July 11, 1950 v. J. NELSON FURNACE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 6, 1944 I INVENTOR. l/icfor d Nelson BY ATTORNEY.

Patented July 11, 1950 son Inclined *Furnace Company,

Calif.

Glendale,

Application November 6, masennno."5625233 1 "My'i'nvention relates to a, furnace, andinparticula'rto a furnace designed for the calcination, roasting or heat treating of ores or minerals. While 'my present furnace is primarily intended for-*calcination or burning oflimestone, gypsum,

keen"cement-,anel Cinnabar, the latter to-produce mercury, it is to be understood that the furnace is als useful in connection with practically all types of ores or minerals.

An object of the invention is to provide means :tosprevent arching of material in the furnace.

Another object is to provide efficient, effective meansforthe discharge-of controlled amounts of calcined material from the furnace.

A: further object is to provide means for extracting a maximum amount ofB. t. .u.s from the heated material in the furnace for the calcining 10f thefresh material introducedtherein.

.My invention also has ffOl its objects" to .provide such means that are positive 'in operation, convenient in use, easily :installedin aworkingposivtionv and easily dismantled therefrom, economical ofimanufacture, relatively simple; and of general superiority and serviceability.

The invention also comprises noveldetails of construction and novel combinations and-"arrangements of parts, which will more fully-apapearzin the course of the -followingdescription; However, the drawings merely show and th'efollowing description merely describes one embodiment of: the -present invention, which-is given iby way of illustration or example only.

' the drawings,-like reference-characters dsignate similar parts the -severa1="-views.

Fig:- 1 is a longitudinal section through a""furnace*embodying the foregoing 'featiires',"'show-n built upon a hillside.

Fig. 2"is-an enlarged transverse section taken 'onthe line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig'. '3 is'an exterior "view'o'f the lower-end of of my saidfurnace.

Fig. 4 is a broken transverse section through discharging means embodied herein. Fig.5 .is a broken elevation, partly in section, looking inthe direction of the arrows 5 of Fig. 4. i Fig.,'6"is a front elevational View of m furnace looking inthe direction of the arrow 6 of Fig. 1. Fig. 'Z 'isL an enlarged, broken section, taken on theline .11'of Fig. 6.'

is an. enlarged, transverse sectiontaken on the line. 8-8 of Fig. 1.

I Fig.9 is. aperspective view of operating mechanism comprised in my furnace.

:Re ferring more in detail to the drawings, the M i "22 'of the furnace.

"reference number in indicates a hillside upon which my' present furnace is preferably, though notnecessarily, built. At the upper end of my furnace, 'I provide a hopper l2 for receiving crushed ore. The hopper preferably has a smooth-finish, concerte floor '9'in which are embedded downwardly inclined conduits 8 atthe sides thereof. A screening grid 13 is-arra'ng-ed at the top of the hopper 12 to prevent the entrance-into the hopper of over-size material. The

hopper is preferably arranged at about a fortyfive degree angle on the hillside. A shaft M, journa'led 'i'n'the hopper, has an operating lever ql15-carried thereon. Also fastened on the shaft I4 are lever (arms l6, shown in Fig. 9, for reciprocat-ing 'stoker or-agitator rods ll disposed within the conduits' fl and extending downwardly in the furnace.

angle iron l8 at the lower end of the hopper [2, and'spaced from the bottom of the hopper, regulates the size of the outlet'fr'om the hopper'and thereby regulates theam'ount of material discharging from the hopper. From the hoppe'r l2 the crushed ore is introduced into the furnace l9 downwardl along the fire-brick floor 20 thereof. The stoker rods I! lie loosely along the downwardly inclined floor 20 of the combustion chamber 2|, at the sides of such chamber. The stoker rods extend almost the full length of the combustion chamber. v

The ceiling 22 of thecombustion chamber 21 tapers from the larger, lower end 23 to the smaller, upper end 24, to provide an upwardly tapering combustion chamber. A safety and inspection door 25 is arranged in the ceiling or roof My combustion chamber 2i is preferably arranged at approximately a thirtyfive degree angle on the hillside. While thisappears to be an optimum angle, it is to be understood that other angles may be employed for certain purposes.

The floor 20 is a falsefloor. That is to say, it is spaced from still another floor 26 to provide a passage 21 for the gases of combustion to pass downwardly under the floor 26 almost to itsfull length "from lateral inlet ports 28 at the upper end of the passage to lateral outlet ports 29 near thelower end of the" passage 21.

Downward flues 30 within the side walls 3! of the furnace, connect lateral ports 32 in the combus'tion chamber 2| with the ports 28 leading into the unerneath passage 21. The lower ports 29 connect with jstack sections-33 which join'in a singl'pipe-M leadingto-asuction blowerf 6 0,

' Driving mechanism for the reciprocating rod l1 described driving connection is utilized. l I

The shaft 42 of the pulley 36 carries a pinion 43 which in turn drives a larger gear 44 on a shaft 45 of a discharge means 46 for calcined ore from the furnace. Ore in the furnace i indicated at 41. A pivoted flap 48 normally blocks the downward flow of the ore 4! from the combustion chamber. The flap 43 is counterbalanced at 49 (see Fig. 4) to tend to maintain the flap in an ore blocking position.

The discharging means 46 comprises a series of pockets or bins 56 around the periphery thereof. Partitions 5| separate the bins from each other. Rollers 52 engage the lower face of the flap 48 and support same, in order to provide positive means for holding back the ore flow from the furnace until it is desired to discharge same. The discharge means 46, rotated in a clockwise direction, as shown in Fig. i, admit calcined ore from the furnace into successive pocket 5B and then discharge the ore into a conduit 53 leading to a receiver or bin (not shown) The means for supplying combustion for calcining the ore comprises an oil supply line 54 and a pressure supply line 55. The pressure is preferably steam, but for certain uses, compressed air may be used as the pressure supplying medium, and oil is preferred, although for certain uses, gas may be employed. It will be noticed in Fig. '7 that the steam is admitted into a mixing jacket 56 behind the outlet 5'! of the oil line, with regard to the direction of the ficw of the oil as shown by the arrow in the pipe 54 in Fig. 7. By this arrangement, the oil is pre-heated by mixing it with the steam. Due to the steam pressure, the oil is atomized in the jacket 56 and mixed with 'thesteam, providing a satisfactory combustible ble media.

In the operation of my present device, the upwardly tapering combustion space 2| gradually and increasingly reduces the size of the combustion space over the ore so as to confine the heat more as its effect is being spent over the ore.' In other words, as the combustion space extends farther away from the burners, it is smaller in cross-sectional area.

The ore emptied into the hopper l2 through the screen i3 is fed into the furnace in regulated quantities by the gate-piece I8. Heat admitted at the lower end of the combustion chamber 2i travels upward therein, and at the upper end passes out through the ports 32, down through the fines 36, through the ports 28, and downwardly beneath the furnace floor 2!] to the outlet ports 29 and therethrough and upward into the stack sections 33 under the influence of the suction blower 66.

Oxygen is admitted into the opening 6| just above the ore at the lower end of the furnace. The reciprocation of the agitator rod ll prevents the material from arching or building over, which would cause the ore to back up in the furnace. The reciprocation is effected by the driving means hereinbefore described.

The discharging means shown partly in Fig. 4,

provides for the discharge of measured quantities of material. The speed of discharge may be regulated by the variable speed motor. For certain uses, the motor may be eliminated and the weight of the ore rotate the discharging means 46 by gravity, due to the ore in the buckets 56 on the descending side of the discharging means. In any event, the discharge is automatic.

My present furnace is so designed that it may be operated very economically, since the maximum of heat is removed before the products of combustion are discharged into the stack 34, by the return arrangement of passages for the gases of combustion.

From carbon dioxide gases discharged from the blower 66, Dry Ice is manufactured. It should also be understood that the present device may be employed for burning brick or tile byfeeding same through the present furnace in the manner described in connection with the material 41, so that the furnace acts as a kiln.

While I have illustrated and described what I now regard as the preferred e1nbodiment of-.my invention, the construction is, of course, subject to modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention. I, therefore, do not wish to restrict myself to the particular form of construction illustrated and described, but desire to avail myself of all modifications that may fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A furnace construction comprising an elongated enclosure formed to have an inclinedbottom, an inclined ceiling spaced above the bottom, side walls connecting the bottom and the ceiling, and an inclined material-conducting floor for material moving in a direction toward the lower end of the enclosure and intermediate the bottom and the ceiling to divide said enclosure into an inclined combustion chamber between the ceiling and th floor and an inclined heat-conducting passage between the floor and the bottom, said side walls having flues therein connecting the upper ends of the combustion chamber and passage and the side walls also having outlet ports communicating the lower end of said passage with the outside of the enclosure; and a burner in the lower end of the combustion chamber to generate heated gases that fiow upwardly in the combustion chamber to heat the downwardly moving material on the inclined floor, then pass through said flues into said passage and downwardly in said passage to heat the inclined'floo'r from the bottom, and finally emerge from the mentioned ports.

2. The combination with a furnace according to claim 1 of means controlling discharge of material from the lower end of the inclined floor and comprising a pivoted element in the path of movement of said material and displaceable'on its pivot by the weight of said material to allow movement of material therebeyond, and a continuously driven, rotary, material-receiving member directly engaged with said element to move the latter alternately between material-flow arresting and material-fiow-permitting positions. 3. The combination with a furnace according to claim 1 of means controlling discharge of a 5 material from the lower end of the inclined floor and comprising a pivoted element in the path or movement of said material and displaceable on its pivot by the weight of said material to allow movement of material therebeyond, and a. continuously driven, rotary, material-receiving member directly engaged with said element to move the latter alternately between materialflow-arresting and material-flow-pennitting positions, said rotary material-receiving member comprising radial partitions defining pockets to successively receive material and discharge the same, the mentioned element having successive engagement with the outer edges of said partitions.

VICTOR J. NELSON.

6 REFERENCES CITED 'llhe'following references are of record in the file'otfthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

